Photograph of Cornelia Fort wearing pilot's coveralls, flying helmet, and goggles perched on top of her head, standing next to and leaning against the wing of a PT-19 training airplane in 1942. Fort was a young Nashville debutante who became a...

A studio portrait of Rebecca Landers in Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) uniform, 26 May 1943. An inscription on the front of the photograph to her husband, Corris, reads: "Everlastingly your wife, Rebecca." A few months after this photograph...

A two-page typewritten letter by Jessie Wallace to her mother, Mrs. C.M. (Lorine) Wallace of Ames, Iowa. Jessie grew up in Oklahoma and her family moved to Iowa during the Depression. During World War II, Jessie Wallace (later McNutt) served in...

Mary Frances "Fannie" Battle in her later years, with grey hair, light blue or grey eyes, and wearing glasses and a white shirt. Mary Francis "Fannie" Battle (1842-1924) was a Nashville humanitarian and social worker who was known during her...

A captioned photo from the Nashville Times (1940), about a semi-annual meeting of the Middle Tennessee District of the Tennessee Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. They gathered in Nashville and “among those at the speakers’...

A portrait photograph of Elizabeth Burgess Buford, a prominent educator and founder of Buford College, a school for young ladies that was first established in Clarksville, Tennessee in the 1880s and subsequently moved to Nashville in 1901. This...

A postcard of Radnor College in Nashville, Tennessee. Radnor College was started in 1906 on a hill overlooking Nolensville Pike by Presbyterian minister Andrew Nelson Eshman. Famous for its free four-week travel program, this women's college sent...

A photograph of the Central Church of Christ Girls' Home, located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Commerce Street in Nashville, Tennessee, prior to its razing in 1972. The Girls Home was established in 1927, by the Central Church of Christ,...

During the years of World War II it was considered your patriotic duty to sacrifice and make do with what you had. There was rationing in food, gas and even fabrics for clothing. One of the ways women could help with the war effort was to be frugal...

A copy photograph of Ward's Seminary for Young Ladies, a prestigious school for girls founded in 1865 by Dr. William E. Ward, a Presbyterian Minister and his wife, Eliza Hudson Ward. The school was located at 15 South Spruce Street (Eighth Avenue)...

A captioned photo from the Nashville Times (1940), about the annual Red Cross roll call. The caption reads: “More than 600 women made the census enumerators look like a bunch of pikers as they started the annual Red Cross roll call today. This...

An excerpt from an oral history interview with Wilbur Foster Creighton, Jr., conducted on 18 August 1976 by Ann Wells as part of the Historic Nashville, Inc. Tennessee Centennial Project: Oral History . Creighton discusses the Women's Building,...

A postcard of Ward-Belmont, showing an academic building and Pembroke Hall in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1913, Belmont College, (1890) and Ward Seminary (1865), were consolidated, forming the Ward-Belmont College, a prestigious women's finishing...

A postcard of Ward-Belmont College. In 1913, Belmont College, (1890) and Ward Seminary, (1865), were consolidated, forming the Ward-Belmont College, a prestigious women's finishing school. The school was located on the grounds of former Acklen...

A postcard of the North front of Ward-Belmont college, overlooking the city of Nashville. In 1913, Belmont College, (1890) and Ward Seminary, (1865), were consolidated, forming the Ward-Belmont College, a prestigious women's finishing school. The...

Excerpts from an oral history interview with Mary Diane Maynard Ross, conducted on 2 Oct. 2006 by Linda Barnickel as part of the Nashville Public Library's Veterans History Project. Ross discusses the difficulty of leaving behind her young...

Celebrity figure skater and film actress Sonja Henie, with unidentified men at a hotel desk, during her visit to Nashville, circa April 1954. Henie was presented a key to the City and also Honorary Citizenship of the City of Nashville. Henie was...

Celebrity figure skater and film actress Sonja Henie (center), entering an automobile during her visit to Nashville, circa April 1954. Henie was presented a key to the City and also Honorary Citizenship of the City of Nashville. Henie was a...

Pictured: Celebrity figure skater and film actress Sonja Henie presented a key to the City of Nashville at the Nashville Airport by local politician and civic leader Gayle Gupton, circa April 1954. Henie also received Honorary Citizenship of...

Celebrity figure skater and film actress Sonja Henie, with two unidentified children at the airport during her visit to Nashville, circa April 1954. Henie was presented a key to the City and also Honorary Citizenship of the City of Nashville. ...